Mr Gray
by unique-goddess
Summary: Mr. Gray teaches Claire Bennet how to act natural.
1. Substitute

**Title: **Mr. Gray

**Chapter One: **Substitute

**Couple: **Sylaire (Sylar/Gabriel GrayxClaire)

**Rating: **Debatably K+

**Summary:** Mr. Gray teaches Claire Bennet how to act natural.

**Spoilers: **Probably not, I'm just getting back into Heroes (I'm renting it season by season) and can't recall much so … if there are any it's from the first like, um, ten episodes

**Disclaimer: **I've never put one of these before. But my boobs tell me that I am not Tim Kring, so yeah. I wish I wrote Heroes. I would've had tons of shirtless men … like everywhere … and gay sex … perhaps straight sex too … It would be strange …

**Author's Note:**Well, this is a straight couple. I haven't written very many of those, but I know I'm going to enjoy this one. It probably won't be past five chapters, if that even. In fact, the possibility of me dropping this is vast; I'm not motivated in the least. I got a burst though, to write this out. Here we go.

**Mr. Gray**

**Chapter 1: Substitute **

It was Claire's second town in the last six years. She was a sophomore once again. It was by far her favorite year in high school. Not only was the homework easy, but she didn't have to worry about ACTs or the pressure of being a senior. It was a simple year. And it helped immensely that all of her teachers were loving and didn't believe in harsh piles of homework. As of now, Claire was reading Lord of the Flies and actually enjoying it. Not known for her love of books, her father—or rather, both of them—would've stared at her in complete aghast shock. But as a matter of fact, Noah Bennet had died the year before. Old age did that, ya know. Killed you dead. Claire was used it now.

The last few decades had been silent. A strange foreboding would always follow Claire but she had learned to live with it. The occasional call from her brother, Lyle kept her sane and the telling of his scholarships and girlfriends we're monotonous. They had become closer in the past years. That didn't stop her from fearing what couldn't be seen though. Claire knew that she was being followed around. She just found it increasingly easy to ignore the danger and pretend it wasn't happening. She was 'normal' now. Or as close as she would ever come close to. Her friends, Charlie and Margaret, were normal; her neighbors were normal. Everything was completely normal.

And boring as hell. But Claire could—and _would_—live with that.

She was in her fourth hour—Biology—when she noticed the small differences around the room. There was no nearly perfect apple on Miss Zings' desk, nor was her computer playing a medley of science related music. The board was swiped of the usual schedule and there were no open windows. The lights were on also. Miss Zings believed in natural lighting and a cooling breeze to keep her brain sane. The whole room was _wrong_. It could only mean one thing.

They had a substitute.

Her phone rang suddenly from her side-bag. Bending down, Claire searches through the brown bag. It was worn from years of use. Her father had gotten it for her a decade ago, thinking it would cheer her up a tad after a spat with what had been her best friend. It hadn't worked. Finally finding her cell, Claire scrolled through and opened the latest text message.

_Math bites. Ms. Shiller's a bitch. Three pages of Algebra? What planet is she from? –Charlie_

Charlie was the English-wiz. Not the math-wiz in the least. His brain couldn't function through the use of text talk and math was a foreign language he had attempted at for years. Nothing ever came from his strife.

_I feel ya. Miss Zings isn't here fyi. The sub will be a creep, I can feel it. –Claire_

Claire watched as the text went into cyberspace and connected with Charlie's phone one classroom away. The miniature phone gave a loving beep as it was sent completely. The blonde quickly put her phone away when she heard the door open and close swiftly. The substitute kept his back to the class easily. A black cardigan and dress pants perfectly matched his dark hair. Tall and broad shouldered, Claire could practically feel the teen angst rolling out, hoping that this man was attractive. To them it would make the class hour _that_ much more bearable.

The man wrote his name in perfected flowing print on the whiteboard. His head blocked it from immediate viewing.

When he slowly turned around, Claire's eyes widened largely.

"My name is Mr. Gray and I will be your substitute today."


	2. Theory

**Title: **Mr. Gray

**Chapter Two: **Theory

**Couple: **Sylaire (Sylar/Gabriel GrayxClaire)

**Rating: **Debatably K+

**Summary:** Mr. Gray teaches Claire Bennet how to act natural.

**Spoilers: **Seriously, just their names. And ya know, who they are, what power they have, blahblahblah, basic things.

**Disclaimer: **_I own Heroes_. _**No, I joke**_. I don't even own Season 1 on DVD. It's rather pathetic. Not even a t-shirt. Damn, now I want a t-shirt …

**Author's Note:**I'm writing this before anything has happened on FF. I had to be sure that if someone DID enjoy it, I'd have a second chapter to share … And even then I probably won't … *swings legs* tralalala. I just totally talked lovingly ("Urgh, I love you!" "Probably the only guy I'll ever call attractive!" embarrassingly etc.) about Zachary Quinto accidently in front of my half-asleep brother. *please don't remember this moment; I would die of shame*

**Mr. Gray**

**Chapter 2: Theory**

Claire's whole body froze. No. He wasn't here. Claire had been so careful. He couldn't have found her. No way. Sylar was not here. But …

Gray, the name was familiar. Gabriel Gray. It _was _him. How? How could he have found her? There was no way. The eyes, deep brown. The hair, nearly black and perfectly skewed. The skin, lightly pale. The clothes, always dark. He was back. But why?

"Your teacher, Miss … Zings, was it? Yes, Miss Zings is currently _occupied_—" He gave a meaningful look at Claire. Her breath momentarily stopped in her lungs. "—at the moment and I will be subbing for her today. She has kindly left a movie for us to watch." Sylar grinned to the class as they gave appreciative murmurs and silent swoons at his perfectly white teeth. As much as Claire liked Miss Zings, she could admit that the woman was a tight-wad. Never had they been so lucky as to have a substitute. Movies beat four page homework assignments that lasted two hours any day. "The sheet says to keep you in order, but you see, I'm a pretty relaxed guy. Go ahead and sit wherever is comfortable." At this, he dismissed the class by starting the video and opening a large book in front of his face.

Claire stood up from her chair quickly with her side-bag at hand. She moved to sit straight next to Margaret, as if the petite girl would save her from Sylar. Margaret moved her things from the empty desk next to her while typing out a length text to her boyfriend. Margaret was in the absolutely obsessive state of relationship. It wasn't uncommon for the two of them to go running down the halls for a simple hug and a 'hello.'

Even so, Margaret whispered to Claire, "Ain't he just a dreamboat?" She giggled furiously behind her cellphone. Claire rolled her eyes. Margaret had the strangest terms.

"Sure." Claire decided to humor her. As Margaret prepared her answer, Sylar's head lifted from his book.

"_Try_ not to gossip while the movie is playing."

Margaret's laughter became slightly nervous. "We'll try, Mr. Gray." Sylar grinned at that. When he lifted the hefty book back upward, Claire could swear she heard him say, "I could get used to that." But it had to have been her imagination.

The movie was utterly boring. But again, Claire could live with that. Genes floated around on the screen while a British man attempted to teach them about semi-new things. DNA, RNA, it could've been Calculus for all Claire knew. Sure she'd learned this several times before, but that hardly mattered when every year they upped the level of learning. It was so much more in depth this time around. Claire's green eyes were just starting to droop when a voice flittered in her ear.

"Claire."

She looked at Margaret. "What?"

Her friend gave her a look. "I didn't say anything, sweet-pea."

"Oh. Thought you did. My bad." Claire looked back at the projector screen, witnessing chromosomes splitting.

"Claire."

She glanced back at Margaret, who was staring out the window. Yes, trees were very interesting, Claire supposed. "Did you say something?"

Margaret's brown eyes scrunched. "Nope again, my sugar-snap."

"Huh."

Laughter echoed in Claire's ear.

Claire recognized that laughter. How could she not after the several times it had occurred? Now she understood it all. Her green eyes stared straight at the stupid book cover. Two dark brown eyes peeked from above it, gleaming with delight. A page turned.

"Claire, I have a theory," Sylar spoke into her ear. That damn sound manipulation. Sylar could always find some sketchy way to use a power against others.

"And what would that be, _Mr. Gray_?" Claire spoke silently under her breath. His sensitive—Claire was surprised that term could even be used to described Sylar—hearing would be able to pick it up.

"My theory? Well, it's easy Claire. By the end of this hour, you'll be mine."


	3. Experimentation

**Title: **Mr. Gray

**Chapter Three: **Experimentation

**Couple: **Sylaire (Sylar/Gabriel GrayxClaire)

**Rating: **Debatably K+ (emphasis on _debatably_)

**Summary:** Mr. Gray teaches Claire Bennet how to act natural.

**Spoilers: **Pretty much nothing in my opinion. You learn about Sylar's powers and that's pretty much it. There might be mentions of other things, but probably not considering how lazy I'm feeling.

**Disclaimer: **Tim Kring, how I wish I could shapeshift into you. But that would be strange and perhaps against the law. So *hopes wither* I guess I'll stay unique-goddess for now.

**Author's Note:**To begin with, thanks for the Reviews! They mean the world. And my brother has crap memory. And the worst sleep cycle. Not that that really matters. Anyhow, I'm actually going to go think a bit about this chapter somewhere … *think*think*think*eats lunch*I'll be back* -one day later- wow, that was a long thinking process …

**Mr. Gray**

**Chapter 3: Experimentation**

It was a moment of perfectly calculated silence after that. All of the students in the room momentarily disappeared, nearly into thin air. Claire tried additionally hard _not_ to look straight at Sylar. Those brown eyes would mock her embarrassment. This is when the title of the book finally processed into Claire's brain. One beat-up copy of _Activating Evolution _by Chandra Suresh lay before Sylar's possibly—positively—grinning face. Notes poked out here and there, giving the signs of intense study of the long deceased man's work. A man who Sylar killed decades ago. A man whose work had gone ignored for _years_.

That's when a light-bulb popped on above Claire's blonde head.

Now, Claire never was one for brilliant plans and nor was she a spectacular liar. Neither were even present on the list of "Things Claire Excels At"—which was one hundred bullet-marked list (she had time at hand, you see). Even so, she had to admit this one wasn't her greatest.

She ignored Sylar. Because that was going to work real well. She attempted to watch the video, momentarily getting drawn in by the silly cartoons and witty songs. They were as much hypnotizing as annoying. They would get stuck in her head, she just knew it. She'd be singing "Mitosis Baby" later today; it was a give-in.

It was just when she thought Sylar had gotten the message when wind blew against her hair, fluttering it to the right. Angrily, Claire fixed it to be sitting on her left shoulder again. After a few more moments of the continuous hair filtering, Claire learned her lesson and borrowed a hair-tie from Margaret. That would settle the whole ordeal.

"Pst, can I borrow a hair-tie?" Claire whispered.

"Here ya are, babydoll. I want it back though; it's my favorite one." Because God forbid the loss of a single hair-tie. Claire couldn't help but roll her eyes at her friend.

The hair-tie fixed her hair issue. The breeze no longer fluttered it to the wrong side. It did little to stop the constant tickle to her neck though. Claire itched at the bothered skin subconsciously. Because what was an itchy neck compared to the wrath of Sylar? Nothing. An itchy neck was innocent enough.

And then it wasn't.

A breeze didn't roll along your back; never. It didn't massage your spine and relieve the tension that was unknowingly there. A wind didn't knock down a perfectly tight ponytail in one pull. In fact, a gust of air couldn't _pull_ anything. There were no hands involved in the wind. What Claire felt though were _hands_. Or something eerily close. They were nearly square and quite large, with five appendages each. Air couldn't have that. But above all that, it most certainly didn't cup your breast, causing something in your throat to stop working correctly. It most _definitely_ didn't stroke your thighs, making your heart to do a sort of salsa in your chest with each beat.

It was when a breathy sigh passed her lips that Claire understood.

There were no open windows. Miss Zings wasn't here today; therefore all of the windows were closed. There shouldn't have been a breeze. A breeze was _impossible. _It was all impossible because …

There was a substitute.

_Mr. Gray._

"You can't ignore me, Claire. I'll _always_ be here."


	4. Color Coded

**Title: **Mr. Gray

**Chapter Four: **Color Coded

**Couple: **Sylaire (Sylar/Gabriel GrayxClaire)

**Rating: **Debatably K+ (emphasis on _debatably_)

**Summary:** Mr. Gray teaches Claire Bennet how to act natural.

**Spoilers: **The fact that Sylar has awesome powers and what he looks like. That's really it. It's more of an AU but, ya know, _NOT_. So … yeah … I mention past relationships _briefly_. Basically just names.

**Disclaimer: **Puh-lease! If I owed Heroes it would've never gotten cancelled! I'd be bringing shit to _town_ about that.

**Author's Note:**I wasted a whole _day_ yesterday. I didn't write a single thing. I've had this chapter planned out forever though, so that's a plus. I'm finding that I put a lot of blah inside the chapter. Charlie is such an unneeded character but I love—love love love—male characters that I _just had_ to add him.

**Mr. Gray**

**Chapter 4: Color Coded**

Claire couldn't help but glance at the clock across the room. There was a still a lengthy forty-five minutes left of class. Surely by then, Claire could still resist Sylar's persuasion? She'd done the same for longer than the average human could dream of! A measly over thirty minutes couldn't be that hard, right?

When Sylar's breath tickled her ear softly for a moment, Claire's positivity wavered.

Claire's body shuddered, causing Margaret to glance over. "Cold?" she whispered to her closest friend.

"Uh," Claire stared at the redhead, debating the options. "Yeah, that's it, I'm cold." For effect, she hugged her shoulders closer to her body.

"Poor Claire," whispered Sylar with a breathy laugh.

Another shudder racked Claire's system. Her heart exploded in a race against her lungs. Which would give out first? In, out, in, out. Doki, doki, doki, doki. Both were so loud.

_Shut up! Stop it! _Claire shivered in fear and a strange exhilaration.

The laugh echoed again in her ear.

Margaret gave her the mother hen look, patted Claire's shoulder, and went back to what she had been doing. Instead of staring off at the vastly interesting trees as she had been doing, Margaret had begun drawing. Claire's friend was a near genius when it came to stick figures and the likes. Claire herself could relate. In fact, drawing didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Digging into her side-bag, Claire picked out her pencil case, the blue one that was specifically for colored pencils. Along the way she glanced at her phone (thirty-eight more minutes to go), noticing the newest text from Charlie.

_I don't know, Jess said he was "hawwwtt." What do you think? –Charlie _

Claire rolled her eyes, looking at Jess McFlawn, the head cheerleader, across the way. She had mooneyes and was staring gleefully at 'Mr. Gray' even though his face was still concealed. His skewed black hair flourished above the cover though, begging for some poor cheerleader to brush it aside. The unfortunate girl had no idea what that man was capable of. With her polyester uniform and sinking pigtails, the girl was a straight up naivety-whore waiting to happen. She must have also been texting Charlie though.

Claire quickly snapped a picture of the girl and sent it along with _Nope, I'm pretty sure Jess is the only one who thinks so. –Claire _

Claire finally laid out the paper and opened the pencil case. Mindlessly, she stared at the blank white sheet. What to draw, what to draw? Claire couldn't figure it out. There were so many things. A house, perhaps. An exploding man. Zach, West, Brody? Perhaps. Maybe. Eventually Claire just began to draw, as if hypnotized.

Line after line filled the paper. In a daze she would grab colors from the pile, not really paying attention to what they were. Whites, greys, blacks all filled the page. A splash of yellow here and a polyester filled blue there. It was all becoming vaguely familiar. There was a door and a desk, brown. There were windows, green and blue and white. There were students, peach and brown and bored. There was a girl, blonde and smiling. A man, grinning and pleased. And they were together at the desk.

Claire snapped out of her daze and stared at the picture, not sure if she should be frightened or not. There she sat, on Miss Zings' desk, smiling up at Sylar. He grinned back down at her, brushing a stray lock of that blonde hair from her drawn face. A blush painted her face. Sylar was next to her there, looking down with such a pleased and … almost _happy_ look that Claire couldn't believe the picture to be true.

But there was one factor that tied it all together.

The clock stated the time, twenty-nine minutes from now.

"Claire," Mr. Gray whispered again as if it were a mantra.

She looked up. Up into a pair of eyes. Eyes that were slowly losing a tint of white. Eyes that asked her to understand.

"You _will _be mine; I've seen it."


	5. Labeling

**Title: **Mr. Gray

**Chapter Five: **Labeling

**Couple: **Sylaire (Sylar/Gabriel GrayxClaire)

**Rating: **Debatably K+ (emphasis on _debatably_)

**Summary:** Mr. Gray teaches Claire Bennet how to act natural.

**Spoilers: **Character mentions. Isaac, the best of the best. Hiro and Ando, even bestest of the best. Nothing more than what has previously been mentioned. The power Sylar has in this one is called "Imprinting" (*immediately thinks of werewolves*). It's the ability to imprint words into paper or other surfaces. I thought it was rather neat.

**Disclaimer: **I believe the cliché line of "I don't own them; I simply play with them" is in order. But you see, I don't believe in clichés, "I don't own them; I just make them better." Is that too much? "I don't own them; I just portray what _should_ have happened." Yeah, that's better.

**Author's Note:**Wowza. Yeah that's just about it. This chapter is going to be difficult. It's the planned ending. Let's just see how the goes down … I'm pretty sure it'll be _very_ spacy. *after writing* Jeezus (as to not offend), it's so frickin long. My chapters are never four pages long … And it does indeed get rather spacy … I apologize …

**Mr. Gray**

**Chapter 5: Labeling**

Claire had once heard the story of Isaac Mendez. He had been artist, not well known. He had his own comic, _9__th__ Wonders!_, which Claire knew helped Hiro and Ando and many others. Lyle had once had a brief love of the comic series before realizing video games and football were much more important. Her father, Noah Bennet, had kept a file on the artist, which Claire had devoured in one go. Though a drug-addict, the man certainly had an interesting power. If she were honest, Claire would admit that it was one of her favorites. She just wished she had been able to meet the man herself instead of getting the secondhand fact from Sylar.

Staring up at the brown eyes that were eyeing her intensely, Claire flipped the picture over and began again. Now she had control of what she wanted to draw. Largely, the ex-cheerleader doodled a list of random names matched with miniature pictures. It was crude, but as were all of Claire's drawings. Eventually the list consisted of half a page of blank space. A pair of horn-rimmed glasses match her father's name and a cape matched West's. It was all very strange.

Claire was confused when she glanced up. Something in her mind wiggled around, urging her. She had to look up, if it was the last thing she did. Again, for not nearly the first time since the class had started, green eyes matched brown. Sylar had set the book down, placing it on the desk, page still kept open, hands tucked into his lap under the desk. He wasn't far along in the book, Claire noticed subconsciously. Perhaps at the end of the Introduction. Sylar had been reading all class hour though. How could he have not at least been to chapter one?

Was he, by chance, _distracted_?

Sylar rarely—

The thought was struck short by the mild glowing on Claire's list. Golden light filtered on the page. Claire snatched paper and hid in her lap, not wanting her classmates to notice the phenomenon. For a moment, Margaret glanced over, but after an insta-smile from Claire, she giggled and turned back to her own paper. Underneath the table the paper shaded down to blue, deeper and deeper into a navy.

The blonde couldn't help but again look up. Sylar's hands were now stuffed under his arms as he feigned reading again. Claire didn't recognize this power. What was it? Did it have to do with his hands? Surely this didn't happen coincidentally? There was no way when Gabriel "Sylar" Gray was involved.

"Look." Sylar's lips barely even moved.

His name was imprinted in the paper, underneath Samuel and his pile of dirt.

He wanted to be included in Claire's list.

But, what did Claire think of Sylar?

_Murderer_ was the first word that came to her mind.

_Broken _was the next.

_Unloved, monster, untouchable._

_ Beautiful._

Claire shook her head. It would do no good to think like that. He wanted her to think that way. He was playing her, that was all. If she gave it, he'd ruin it all. _Break _her just as he was broken years ago.

Claire's eyes drifted again to his eyes. They weren't hungered, weren't raving to kill, and certainly weren't disgusted at her naivety and innocence. There was new light, still very much mocking and dangerous, but overcrowded with an emotion of needed forgiveness. Not for Claire, but for himself. He needed the forgiveness. He needed to know that she didn't hate him as she once had.

It had been thirty-three years since she had last laid eyes on Sylar. Back then he had been power hungry, wanting her "brains" and acting too much like a zombie for Claire's personal taste in personality choice of men. He had cooled, relaxed for a small period, yes. But he had soon regained his true killing potential, murdering Claire's "bio-mom" as he crudely named Meredith.

How could Claire possibly forgive him?

How could she possibly believe that he had changed, after all he had done to her and her family?

But … surely thirty-plus years changed a person? Claire had certainly changed, soon excepting that the only way she could stay safe was to play normal again. All she had to do was continuously correct her last name into some other "B" name. Brent, Breck, Bailey, Birch, so on and so forth. The last names even seemed like her own when she wrote "Claire B." on her worksheets.

Could Sylar have changed?

"Sylar."

Why had she said that? She hadn't meant to say that.

"Claire." He nodded at the sheet, at her.

The movie continued around them both, adding whistles and pings to their ears. None of it was heard.

Claire lifted the paper from her lap, placing it on the table. It had long since stopped glowing. She didn't look up. Her right-hand reached for the red pencil, prepared to draw exactly what she thought and remembered through her experiences with Sylar. Red. It meant many things, symbolized so much to the world.

She began, twirling the colored pencil into a half circular motion, ongoing to—

'_RING!'_ screamed the bell, dropping the pencil from the tight grasp.

Claire gasped.

"Are you coming, sugar-babe? I'm sure Charlie is waiting for us!" Margaret chirped from Claire's side. She had begun to pack her things and had pushed her chair back under the wooden desk.

"Um, I'll be right there, all right? Let me just pack up and get some of the worksheets I'm missing." Her hand pointed to the basket where all the extra copies were kept. Margaret nodded dolefully; she knew Claire struggled to remember assignments sometimes.

"Okey dokey, artichokie! I'll be in the lunchroom! You know the table!" she called as she left the classroom.

Claire didn't even bother picking up her things or pretend to venture towards the basket. Once everyone had left the classroom, the green-eyed girl stood from her desk. Claiming the paper to her chest, the blonde traveled to the man sitting in the front. He watched her, a predatory glaze covering his eyes. With a flick of his fingers, the door slammed silently and locked with a subtle click. In some ways, people cannot change, and even Claire understood that. But at the moment, she couldn't have care less. Something about Sylar was calling to her, beckoning her towards him. She couldn't dismiss this feeling.

"Claire." It was becoming a word in its own. Beginning to mean something other than a title for a silly ex-cheerleader. It was starting to mean _everything_.

He reached to her list. His eyes sparked when he flipped the sheet over, staring holes into her simple doodles. It was childish of her, to write what she did. It caused a flush to creep through her system. Sylar said nothing; it spoke loudly enough.

She was so stupid.

She—She was such an _idi_—

Sylar grabbed her, crowded her, claimed her as his own. His lips were nothing but air: cool, dry, and necessary for life. She was pressed into the desk, shifting it loudly from its position. Claire didn't mind.

The list, only ten names long, flitted to the floor. It labeled one name in particular, boldly.

Gabriel Gray : *heart*

* * *

**Author's** **Note: **I'm a little peeved. It won't allow me to make a heart. Ya know, with less than and 3? So ... just imagine it or something ... thanks ...


End file.
